A minor bug has been found in Verbatim. It's not serious, but it doesdid prevent effective use of the program.

Grey Matters reader Bev had trouble getting Verbatim to read her XML file, and asked me about the exact nature of the problem. Upon further investigation, it turns out that the problem boils down to Verbatim being on one domain and her file being on a totally different domain. As a security feature, most browsers specifically prevent a Javascript program (such as Verbatim) from accessing an XML file under a totally different domain.

Update (October 15, 2009): The bug has been fixed, and this post has been edited concerning the changes.

It took quite a bit of research to find the solution, but it's done. Except that you now have the ability to use XML files located on almost any server (except for those overly-strict ones that prevent ANY external access, which is unusual), you shouldn't notice any differences between the original and current versions of Verbatim.

The original XML files still work with the program, and it still works as in the videos.

I eliminated the verbatim.zip file I originally offered as part of a short-term solution, as you can now use the program here, and access your files anywhere.

Since most of the quizzes on that list come from Sporcle, I predicted in that entry that we'd probably see Sporcle's quizzes alone pass the 2,000 mark about the time we reached 2,600 quizzes. Only yesterday, Sporcle posted their 2,000th quiz. How many quizzes were on the list when I posted the update that included that 2,000th quiz? The number was 2,569 quizzes! Not a bad estimation, eh?

The Timed Quizzes RSS Feed is about to hit its own milestone, as well. At this writing, it's a 964 KB file, and it won't be long before it 1 full megabyte! Even with the quiz names, links, tags, and other information, that's large for a text file.

With so many of these milestones coming so close together, it also has me thinking that the list itself needs to be redesigned, to improve its usefulness. Even with the recent addition of the droplist filter, I can see that more can be done to improve the ease of finding a quiz on a desired topic.

At this point, I'm still looking into the possibilities and have no definite plans. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

If you've found Verbatim useful, you're probably wondering where you can find more resources.

The first place you should look, of course, is Verbatim's own related resources section in the manual. There, you'll find many sources for speeches, monologues, poems, and more! As a matter of fact, one of the sources you'll find there is this very blog entry.

I enjoyed memorizing poems so much, especially with the help of the approach taught in J. J. Hayes article, I decided my New Year's resolution would be to memorize at least 1 poem per month, so that at the end of the year, I would have 12 poems memorized. I'm actually ahead of schedule, as I have the 11 poems I included in the sample poems.xml file already memorized (Which is why those were chosen in the first place)!

Since poetry was the original inspiration, that's where I've focused my efforts when looking for new pieces to memorize.

Most of the resources in Verbatim's manual are text-based, so that it's easy to copy and paste when setting up the XML file. However, I've found video to also be a valuable resource in finding new pieces. I've put together several YouTube playlists containing various poem videos. Sure, you can't copy and paste the text, but most them are either easy enough to understand, or are classic enough that they're easily found in text version on the web.

Here are the playlists I've put together in the hopes that it will help you discover some new poems which you might like to learn. None are in any particular order, so you may wish to randomize the playlist order (click here to learn how to do that) to make the discovery process more interesting:

• Classics - This is a small list of classics I created as I discovered new pieces. While there aren't many in this list, these videos are extraordinary in their depiction of their respective poems.

• UBS Ads - I first talked about this series of ads back in May. To project an image of strength and stability, UBS presented several respected actors reciting classic pieces of poetry.

• Miscellaneous - Too often, lists of classic poems make poetry seem stuffy. The pieces on this list are more recent, and may be easier to relate to for many audiences. It also may surprise you as to just where poetry can pop up. Even sitcoms like Night Court and The Brady Bunch have featured poetry!

• Nipsey Russell - It's hard to mention humorous poems and TV without referencing television's poet laureate, so much so that he really deserves his own playlist. If you're not familiar with his work, you soon will be.

In the hope that Verbatim will inspire you to find the fun in memorizing pieces word for word, I've also included with Verbatim a list of speeches, monologues, poems, song lyrics, and more to help you find pieces you'll enjoy.

I sincerely hope you find this program useful, and I'd like to hear any comments, questions, suggestions or experiences you have involving Verbatim in the comments!

Did I scare you? Often, the mere mention of calculus send shivers down the spine of a student. However, it doesn't have to be that way.

The reason behind the common perception that calculus is perceived as a scary topic by so many is the basic idea behind the article at BetterExplained, A Gentle Introduction To Learning Calculus. In this article, math is likened to art, and preventing kids from learning about calculus when they're younger is likened to not letting the finger-paint until they have 12 years of art fundamentals. It sounds strange, but the way calculus is taught today is a big example of what's wrong with modern math education.

If you really want to take the time to sit down, and practice calculus concepts enough to understand them, then I'd like to turn your attention to Visual Calculus. As opposed to the introductory articles at BetterExplained, this is a thorough course with both lesson and exercises. What makes Visual Calculus stand out, though, is stated right in its name. Each concept taught is well detailed with visual examples, to make each of the points clearer.

Update (9/14/09): One Grey Matters reader alerted me to an old text from 1914, called Calculus Made Easy. This is a great work, and is still understandable and usable today!

Granted, the more time and attention you give you calculus, the better you'll comprehend it. That doesn't mean that fun is out of the question, however. If you prefer it quick and simple, here's all of calculus in 2 videos, and in under 20 minutes:

Why is 9 so surprising? Sol from Wild About Math took a look at this phenomenon last year, and explains it pretty well. The best part of this article is the mathematical magic tricks you learn while trying to understand the principles being taught. Yes, the 1089 trick shows up here, as well.

Sol's article briefly mentions casting out nines, which I remember learning about long ago. It's a great way to check your math on an arithmetic problem, but the teaching of it seems to have fallen out of favor decades ago. The usefulness and simplicity of it, once learned, is so elegant, that there are people today who, when they finally learn about casting out 9s, become enraged that they were never taught it!

I enjoy finding new mnemonics for things I didn't know about before. My Timed Quiz Mnemonics post was fun to research for that very reason. Having found some great new sources, I though I'd share them with you.

We'll start off with a whole host of mnemonics over at Mnemonic Devices. Many of the mnemonics here I've run across in other sources, such as the rhyme for remembering the Kings and Queens of England. However, there are also plenty of mnemonics that are completely new to me, including the hierarchy of winning poker hands. Living in Vegas, you'd think I would've run across this before. This is one of the best mnemonic collection sites I've run across since Memoria Technica.

Do you use the Major/Peg System to remember numbers? If so, you've probably had the occasional trouble trying to find a good word to use for a certain number. Thankfully, the Phonetic Mnemonic Major Memory System Keyword Database is here to help! You just enter a number, and it will give you a list of words that can be used for that number. For example, if you enter 42 into it, you get 39 different keywords to use, such as Iran, arena, rain and runaway (which I never would have come up with on my own).

Today's entry is both late and short, because I have a surprise I'm developing for those of you who enjoy memory training and have an iPhone. What is it? I'll tell you when it's ready.

Instead of me surprising you with memory techniques, this edition of Snippets will focus on you surprising yourself with math techniques.

• Misha Lemeshko challenges us to solve the greatest math problem ever. This is one of those problems that children who haven't entered school yet can solve effortlessly, yet adults find fiendishly difficult. Maybe not all adults would find this difficult, though. I'd imagine anyone who is a Potentate of the Rose wouldn't take too long to solve it.

• Here's 10 Easy Arithmetic Tricks, courtesy of Listverse. Some of these, I've taught on the blog, but not all of them. I can honest say I've found all of them useful in real-world situations at one time or another, and usually impressed several people as a bonus!

• Not that the links in the post don't already have a healthy dose of silliness, but I'd like to round this out with a particular brand of silliness. David Letterman's Top 10 Lists are, of course, a comedy staple. Here's one of the strangest editions of it which I've ever run across: David Letterman's Top 10 Favorite Numbers from 1 to 10, as built up by Casey Kasem!